Vestaburg native Juanita Custer spent most of her adulthood in rentals, but never stopped dreaming about becoming a homeowner. She had years of bad experiences at her rented townhome near Mt. Pleasant High School, where she lived with her family since 2014. Finally, last year, with the help of
Habitat for Humanity of Isabella County (HFHIC), she was able to call her very own house: home.
When Custer moved into her aforementioned rental townhouse, she noticed a short in the kitchen light switch. She was told to not use the light, and to simply put a piece of tape over it. Other outlets had shorts as well, frying her cell phone.
Maintenance and management did nothing about it.
Other things were wrong, too, like a frequently breaking garbage disposal and tub drain which clogged and resulted in backups. The heat didn’t work either, there were problems with flooring, and improper cabinets and countertops. There were constant sewage backups.
“Every month, the sewage would back up,” Custer recalls. “They left the sewage backing up in my place and it eventually overflowed into the other two townhouses in that same building. After three-and-a-half days, I called the Health Department and had them come out. That was kind of the last straw. Me and my oldest son were trying to keep the raw sewage off of our carpet, using all of our towels and stuff to barricade it off.”
Custer was already looking into the feasibility of becoming a homeowner, but felt she couldn’t afford a mortgage. She just hadn’t found the ‘right fit.’
“I had actually been looking at homes and I couldn’t find one that I just loved or could see myself pulling into every day after work,” she says. “My oldest son was enlisting in the Army and I just kind of felt a bit of failure because he has shared a room with his younger brother his whole life. I worked a lot and could not afford to give him his own room or for us to have a yard.”
Then she got a call from a friend, and her family’s lives changed.
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Courtesy Kim Friedrich / Habitat for Humanity of Isabella CountyHabitat staff, volunteers, and board members, plus Custer’s friends, financial coach, and pastor, supported Custer at a special public House Blessing event.
“A friend of mine called me and told me that the HFHIC house had fallen through with the family that was supposed to get it,” Custer says. “She drove by to see it, and she said, ‘I drove by and I saw you on the porch. I really think you need to look at it.’”
Custer drove over to the house and instantly pulled into the driveway, finally feeling like she found ‘home’—like she was going home to her grandma’s house.
“I went onto Habitat’s Facebook page, sent a message and said I was interested in this house. I didn’t even know what Habitat did; I honestly thought they gave houses away to homeless people at that point,” she says.
She filled out an
application, and talked to Kim Friedrich, executive director at HFHIC. Five weeks later, she was on the phone doing credit counseling. The process went quicker than usual, and she closed on her house in May.
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Courtesy Kim Friedrich / Habitat for Humanity of Isabella CountyKim Friedrich, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Isabella County.
The house is on a stone foundation built in 1910, with four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Located on two City lots, the house was a Habitat rehab project, with work completed on the foundation, plumbing, electrical updates, porch repairs, plus a new roof, new flooring and appliances installations including a furnace and central air conditioning.
“I grew up on a farm in Vestaburg, and this house is about that size,” Custer says. “The fact that the house is older is a big deal. I was also raised by my grandma, and it was really devastating to me when the house was lost and that I wouldn’t get to stay there. Pulling into the driveway, it felt like I was coming home even though I hadn’t seen the inside. It was just a feeling. I felt like my grandma brought me here, saying, ‘You’re working hard. You can do this. I did not raise you to give up.’ So that was a really big driving force. I actually closed the house on my grandma’s birthday, so it feels like this is home and where I was supposed to be.”
Since getting her home, her son now has a place to come back to, and she hasn’t had to scoop any sewage. She also enjoys being in a quiet area close to the river.
There’s an immense sense of freedom and pride in being a first-time homeowner at 42 years old.
“I have some pride in the fact that I’m a woman and was able to buy a home on my own. That is a good feeling,” she says. “There was a time when that couldn’t happen, and there may come a time when it can’t again.”
Even though her former rental company marketed their units as income-based, Custer says that’s not true. She also ended up paying about the same in rent for her rental that she does today for her home mortgage, insurance, and taxes all combined.
A home wasn’t the only thing Custer got out of her experience with Habitat though; she also feels like she got a whole other family.
“Habitat was more than just a house—the guidance that I was missing after my grandma passed away, I was able to find in some of them,” she says. “And the strength when I needed it through the process—there are some times when it is very hard.”
Today, she’s excited to pass that guidance onto the next family in their Habitat home journey.
“I get to mentor the next family, and their house is actually being built right next door to mine so I get to watch it be built.” she says. “I want to mentor all of the families. I’m excited to help other people because I know what it feels like to feel invisible and like you just can’t.”
Custer appreciates Habitat’s mission, a driving force that resonates personally with many of the employees, too, who have been where Custer has been.
“It’s a personal mission to them,” Custer says. “It’s kind of just like saying, ‘We know that you’ve hit rock bottom. You feel like you’re at rock bottom, but we’re going to hold this light for you and help you rise back up. You can do this and you’re not alone.’”
For Friedrich at HFHIC, people like Custer are exactly who Habitat for Humanity is for: hard workers who are looking for a hand-up, not a handout, she says.
Friedrich has been the executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Isabella County for seven years. With a background in nonprofit work, she enjoyed helping the community and wanted to explore the possibility of helping in a different way through housing and repair.
“A common misconception is that we give away homes, but we offer the opportunity for families to own a home who might not otherwise qualify for a mortgage,” Friedrich says.
Habitat’s mission is to eliminate sub-standard housing in the country by providing safe, decent, and affordable housing for low-income families in need. Through constructing, rehabilitating, and preserving homes, and by advocating for fair and just housing policies, Habitat ensures communities have opportunities for training, and resources to improve their shelter conditions.
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Courtesy Kim Friedrich / Habitat for Humanity of Isabella County
Since 1989, HFHIC has built 40 homes. They also opened
ReStore in 2008, located at 201 E. Pickard St. in Mt. Pleasant. Donations and proceeds help fund the mission of Habitat’s ongoing work.
Friedrich is aware of the national housing crisis, and also sees personally how Isabella County is affected hyper-locally.
“There’s a housing needs assessment that came out recently that I’ve been looking over,” she says. “We’re one of the poorest counties in the state. Housing is a real issue and barrier for people. I believe it’s for every 12 people who work in Mt. Pleasant, only two people live here. When people don’t live in the communities they work, they're less engaged with the community.”
Not only does Habitat help with new builds, but they are also using unique solutions to help address the housing shortage, and fixing homes that are in desperate need of repair.
“We have a
repair program that helps low-income families that are homeowners that are struggling to maintain their homes,” Friedrich says. “For example, maybe a new furnace or a hot water heater, or we can install a ramp if they need access to their home. Having people stay in their homes is ideal. Keeping the stock of housing that we have in good condition so that people can continue to stay in their home is crucial.”
Of course, the new builds always draw excitement and anticipation for the community, and their latest build, the 41st home, is no different.
“We haven’t done any new construction since 2014,” Friederich says. “It’s an empty lot in Mt. Pleasant, and we’re partnering with a modular housing company called General Housing, out of Bay City. In the last week of July, we should be setting the house on its foundation, so it’s pretty exciting for us. The home should be ready for a family this summer.”
With extremely high construction costs, modular homes are a cost-effective solution that offer a quicker turnaround time.
The 41st home by Habitat for Humanity of Isabella County is a three bedroom two bath house, made possible by the MI Neighborhood program through MSHDA, and additional funding from Habitat Michigan.
Looking ahead, Friederich hopes to be able to continue to tackle the housing crisis on a larger scale.
“We are making an impact one family at a time, but there is a great need and it would be a really wonderful thing if we were able to build more than one home at a time, and be able to serve more families,” she says.
Coming up later in the fall is the annual ReStore our Community event, hosted by HFHIC. The live auction helps raise money for their impactful work, and is scheduled to take place at the Little Flower Barn on Nov. 1.